This ends up being about religion and Jesus so you’ve been warned.
Right after 9/11 the Red Cross had record numbers of people donating blood. That went away after things settled down. Many of the first time donors never returned. The one time satisfied their need to do something. Donated blood has a shelf life.
Am I sure about the Jesus part warning?
I used to donate blood on a regular basis until I ended up on too many medications. I also did apheresis a time or two. They were real happy because I was able to provide enough platelets for two units.
This really doesn’t seem to be very religious does it?
But first a story!
When I was a union steward at an aerospace plant I had a non-member approach me about an issue that they had with something that management was doing to him. They wanted to know if I would represent them. Now, unions are required by law to represent everyone in a bargaining unit. There was the feeling among non-members that if they didn’t belong they didn’t really get the union or steward’s “A” game.
That was not my approach when it came to enforcing the provisions of the contract that governed our work. The person had a good complaint. They wanted to know if they joined would they have a better chance of winning their grievance. For me, protecting our rights meant protecting everyone’s rights. That best served everyone. That was my approach.
I told them no. If that was the only reason that they were joining then they would only end up being disappointed especially if they lost the complaint. I told them if they wanted to join they would need to find a better reason or reasons. They needed to be in and committed for the long haul.
Finally we’re getting to the Jesus part.
We have often seen in times of peril or strife that people turn to religion seeking solace, comfort or answers to the turmoil that surrounds them. Generally when things blow over things return to normal and people cease for the most part seeking spirituality or a better understanding of the ‘is there more to life than this’ question.
Often the questions are combined with an accusation. Why is God doing this?!
I really hate the “This is all part of God’s plan” answer. Well, that’s one stinking cold-blooded God you have there. Not a good answer.
“We had this coming to us!” Another stand-by response that really drives people away.
“These are the end times as foretold by the prophesies!”
Definitely the Jesus part here.
Another story.
When I was little and we had first moved to Wichita my older brother and I would play with this radio that the folks had. It was cream colored and had a gold colored dial. The top half was an AM radio and the bottom half was everything else. We could get stations from all over the world especially late at night. It took the lightest of touch to tune the thing. We could hear Ham radio operators as well. The thing was magical. But if you moved the dial a fraction too much the mystery station would be lost, never to be found again.
Anyway it was on that radio where I heard someone ranting about us living in the end times and going on about all the calamities in the world that signified the fulfilling of the prophesies! Scared the crap out of me. This would have been in ’54 or ’55.
I went running to Dad to ask him why the world was ending. He told me to calm down. He said that he had heard that crap most of his life and just to ignore it. So I did. In case you haven’t noticed the world hasn’t ended. The prophets are still going at it though.
Dealer’s choice.
Here’s the deal. If you read the bible the case can easily be made that we’ve been going through the endtimes since Jesus died. The disciples really did think that he was coming right back. He didn’t. He hasn’t.
Rather than take the approach of expressing that this pandemic is great for church participation because the world is coming to an end, a less off-putting position might be taken. I understand that an excellent marketing opportunity is presented to increase membership but it might be best to keep those thoughts inside one’s head or to just share them with other church management.
I think that getting spirituality via the internet is going to be a tough nut to crack when it comes to people having a deeper understanding of the faith. Not being in that position (management) I’m not sure what I would do. I think that I would want a conversation, face to face, electronically or otherwise even if it was only voice mail. Might have to go to a parking lot and talk car to car.
OMG! Yet another story!
A long, long time ago before texting I was engaged in an email conversation with a friend. I answered an email of theirs with what I thought was an innocent explanation. In their response they expressed that their feelings were seriously hurt. I checked over what I had sent and couldn’t see anything hurtful but decided to go ahead and make it better with my next response.
Nope. Didn’t make it better. Made it worse. Way worse.
More emails back and forth. Anger was being expressed.
Finally I stopped and called them on the telephone. They picked up the phone and said “YEEEEESSSS!” It was the kind of yes that doesn’t really mean yes. It was an ugly acknowledgement yes and I was the acknowledgement.
I immediately said that I loved them, knew that I had offended them, apologized and asked them to please explain why they were so mad and hurt. I told them that I knew without a doubt that I had said something wrong but wasn’t sure exactly what it was.
They still weren’t placated and said well you said this! And I asked what that meant to them and they said that it meant that I had called them dishonest. I explained that was not what I meant at all but now understood why they took it that way. We talked more. Love was expressed back and everything was okay.
The point of that extremely long paragraph is that it took an actual conversation to sort things out. Feeling. Empathy. Emotion. Nuance. I think that only so much can be achieved online. That’s probably my age talking.
Platitudeing.
When having a real conversation I think that it’s important that to offer more than platitudes. They don’t really help and aren’t us bringing our “A” game to the person. Our best A game is to love, support and let someone know that we care. A lot of the time people just want to know that someone gives a crap about them.
Bringing people to a better understanding of Jesus and what he was about isn’t going to be done with platitudes or trying to scare the shit out of them. During a pandemic isn’t a time to go knocking on doors and asking people if they would like to talk about Jesus. Find better ways than that. Killing non-believers by giving them Covid-19 isn’t a good choice.
Jesus didn’t cause this. He certainly wouldn’t want anyone making it worse in his name. He would want comfort for those that grieve. He would want them to know that they aren’t alone.
This is a time to provide comfort coupled with safety.